The Longest Road: Stories Along the Trans-Canada Highway

Pauline Carey is an actor, playwright, and fiction writer. She is the
author of Magic and What’s in a Name?

In 1862, Sir Sandford Fleming recommended that a highway be built across
Canada from coast to coast. It took 100 years for that dream to become a
reality, since the powers that were opted for a railroad instead. It was
not until 1962 that the Trans-Canada Highway was officially opened and
the country of Canada opened with it.

After a brief reminder of history, Bob Weber introduces us to the
Culver family, who drove across the new highway from Vancouver to
Halifax with nine children in an old Mercedes bus. We return to their
story throughout this short, lively book. We also meet several other
people whose lives were changed by the Trans-Canada: a student who
hitchhiked to discover the country, a couple who set up a tourist camp,
an abused wife who was able to leave her abuser, a Native family who
opened a motel, a Hindu monk who walked the road, a hockey commentator
and team driver who rode it, and finally Terry Fox, who ran part of the
highway on an artificial leg to promote cancer research. His death in
1981 during his Marathon of Hope inspired the nation.

We also meet engineers who struggled with rock and muskeg in
constructing some of the most difficult parts of the road. Tom Matheson
was in charge of the Roger’s Pass leg, which took five years to build.
Tony Dias’s job on the north shore of Lake Superior enabled Wawa
residents to drive out of town instead of waiting a day for a train
connection. Roger Nicolet was coordinating engineer of the innovative
Louis-Hippolyte Bridge Tunnel into Montreal, which became a symbol of
confidence for all Quebec.

The highway initially brought people together, and the longest road in
the world became part of what we are. Yet small communities were often
destroyed as drivers moved across the country faster. Weber, a
journalist, has done a splendid job of interweaving personal stories
with the history of the Trans-Canada over almost 50 years. The many
black-and-white photos accompanying the text are well reproduced.